This issue leads on resilience, looking at particular Bablake examples. We have an excellent interview with a former pupil who works at Diageo and offer elements all pupils may select for their individual #18Before18 programmes. Our report on the Mock Interview Morning has been held back until our 1st XV’s evening workshop on Wed 17th October with former pupil Ben Cooper.
EMPLOYERS APPRECIATE RESILIENCE - KEEP TRYING!
Be bold! Learn from failure! These are messages you have heard Bablake’s Headmaster deliver recently, while illustrating his point with the example of James Dyson testing prototype after prototype, before running with a final design he was happy with. Of course this message is spot on; employers value young people with the confidence to challenge themselves, not give up, persist and show the resilience and humility necessary if all does not go entirely to plan straightaway.
This week, I witnessed our boys’ 1st XI hockey team lose 3-2 in a friendly. 2-0 down very early in the game, our players dug in and battled their way through the rest of the first half ending with the momentum of a goal back and a flurry of short corners. This resilience led to the equaliser midway through the second half. Unfortunately an immediate opposition response saw the restoration of their lead and while our team’s resilience did not diminish, we narrowly failed to avoid defeat. This game pattern is a familiar one apparently, but with patience and similar resolve in future fixtures, success will surely arrive.
The Careers department sees resilience in Bablake students daily. The two students who greeted me on A level Results Day, at 7.30am last year, received grades below their desired offer. There were some tears – visible and held back - but the resilience of both was exceptional. They tackled Clearing with complete professionalism and with family and school support were soon ready to telephone or email university departments to claim clearing spaces. One headed to Newcastle to study Marine Biology, combining a love of science and adventure. The other gained a good offer from Nottingham, but Aston’s loyalty in Clearing and the placement opportunities won the argument. Both students have reported they are enjoying the courses their outstanding resilience negotiated.
Another student, whose plans to study in Northern Ireland fell through at the same time, has made every effort deep in the South West to add further employability to her Marine Engineering degree by gaining a PADI diving qualification. Her positive attitude and natural resilience, when faced with adversity, have opened impressive new paths.
Resilience has a price, but it soon becomes a habit… for anyone. After more than 50 years despising and avoiding long distance running – even to Eddie’s Ices - your Careers department has been facing the challenge of Coventry’s weekly 5km Park Run this year; the resilience necessary in reducing its first race time by over 10 minutes has been extreme, but we keep reminding ourself that the training and results are worth it.
CLASS OF 2018 UPDATE
Last year, we congratulated Upper Sixth students Lucie Barnes (AECOM), Liam McSorley & Remy McNamara (both Deloitte), Aaron Biddle (IBM Futures) and Krina Mistry (Specsavers) on successfully negotiating competitive interviews to gain places on school leaver programmes and apprenticeship schemes.
We will post updates from these students over the year, but we have already received news from Aaron, Liam and Remy. All are enjoying the responsibility of their roles, the training, the travel and the fact that their work is very real. At Deloitte, they are also working hard for regular professional exams. We suspect they may envy our forthcoming Half Term, but holiday plans they have mentioned may help remedy this!
Remy, one of Deloitte’s ‘Brightstart’ students, commented: “I am officially one month into my employment with Deloitte and cannot believe how quickly time has gone! Things are going well. My initial training was 2 weeks – one in London and one in the Cotswolds. This was mixed with both university grads and IPs, so it was fairly intense I am now back in London in the offices, which are incredible, and have begun my first project, which is very interesting. The company has been so accommodating and everyone, including the senior partners, has been really approachable which is reassuring. I’m so excited!”
For the third in our series of interviews with Bablake former pupils, we contacted Kondwani Mhone (pictured extreme left below, alongside friends attending the recent Old Wheatleyans RFC Vice Presidents’ Day), who is Global Head of Outlet Execution for Diageo.
When did you leave Bablake? 1997.
Which A levels did you study? English Literature, History and Business Studies
Which degree did you study? Law at the University of Leeds. What did you do after your degree? A Master’s in Marketing at Liverpool John Moores What turned you away from Law? I had wanted to do law since I was 12, without actually understanding that the day-to-day work was not like the world you see on TV. At the end of my first year at university, I took a summer job in a local solicitors’ firm and, by the end, I knew it wasn’t for me. So, after finishing my degree, I enrolled in a Master’s programme in marketing which involved work experience. You work for Diageo - what does this company do? It is a multinational beverage company that is only 21 years old, but many of our brands are more than 100 years old - Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Gordon’s to name a few. Part of your current job title is 'Commercial Leader'. What does this entail? My job is to develop the standards and the ways of working for our sales organisation, and implement this across all our major countries. Put simply, the work I do is focused on that moment when a person is deciding in a bar, club, supermarket or shop which drink to purchase and ensuring they choose our brands more than our competitors’ . One of your briefs with Diageo is to deploy and embed Digital Image Recognition across 20 countries. What does this involve? This involves creating the roadmap of how the solution will be used and providing a framework for all countries to utilise. The best part is working with the countries to get the technology adopted by their teams. This does mean that I am lucky enough to visit a variety of countries across all continents. My personal favourite being Argentina with its red wine and beef. What’s not to love?!
What do you see as the most exciting development that will happen in the next 5 years? In the next 5 years, the most important people - whether in commercial, supply or marketing - will have mathematical or computer science backgrounds, as technology and analytics will be how companies drive growth and improve their business. Key areas that I see being most important are predictive analytics, machine learning and the internet of things. What was the best piece of advice you ever received at Bablake? It was from Madame Field: “You are good at French. You should stick with it - languages are so important.” I didn’t listen and regret it daily when I speak to my colleagues around the world in their second or third language. Finally, what would you tell your 16 year old self? Failure is OK, if you learn from it and get better. Trust your instincts and take more risks.
